


Always and Forever

by JoMouse



Series: Tumblr Prompts [3]
Category: One Direction (Band), Zayn Malik (Musician)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Established Relationship, M/M, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-06-20
Updated: 2016-06-20
Packaged: 2018-07-16 06:31:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,522
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7256260
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoMouse/pseuds/JoMouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn and Liam's life in London isn't turning out the way anyone had planned. Now, the question is, should Liam stay or should he go?</p>
            </blockquote>





	Always and Forever

**Author's Note:**

> Greetings and salutations to all poor souls who have ventured here!
> 
> I'm in a weird mood, forgive me. 
> 
> This is another tumblr prompt from [this post](http://josjournal.tumblr.com/post/146167973267/first-sentence-writing-prompts).
> 
> Once again, it seems the concept of "drabble" has escaped me.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!! Let me know!!!
> 
> xx-Joey
> 
> Don't know 'em. Don't own 'em. Don't show 'em.

“I’m trying very hard not to see all this as a metaphor for my life,” Liam said aloud as he picked up the shards of glass that had exploded from the picture frame when it’d fallen from the wall. It had been forcibly knocked from the wall when Zayn had slammed the door behind himself, rattling everything on the shelves in their crappy little flat.

He glanced at the photo as he set it on the kitchen counter. The image of the two of them from graduation, arms tightly wrapped around each other, bright smiles on their faces. The last time he remembered them smiling that widely around each other.

They’d only been living in London for a couple of months and things had been going to shit nearly as long. The first day and night had been wonderful, the two of them christening each and every room, spending the time in their own little bubble. They’d curled up in bed once they’d worn each other out and talked about the future. About forever.

The next morning, that bubble popped. Liam headed off to his internship while Zayn headed off to the coffee shop, one of two jobs he had found in London. Everything went wrong from the moment Liam entered the office. Another intern had managed to break the coffee maker and, while they had gone to fetch coffee, from Zayn’s coffee shop, the same intern had managed to bump into Liam, causing an entire tray of drinks to spill down the front of Liam’s white button-down. Zayn had chuckled and remade the drinks, his smile kind. Liam had felt like an idiot working the rest of the day in coffee stained clothing and vowed to bring a change of clothes to work to avoid it happening again.

Later that day, the same disaster of an intern had managed to cause the copy machine to break down. Liam tried to help him fix it and had ended up with a brand new bottle of toner spilling all over him. Black joined the brown on his clothing and Liam just wanted to cry.

At the end of the day, the boss called Liam and the other intern into her office. She gave a disgusted look and he could feel his face flushing. She then proceeded to tell them that because of recent budget cuts, they would only be able to keep one intern. Liam hung his head, knowing before he heard the words, that his first day had become his last. He made sure to thank the woman for the opportunity and assure there were no hard feelings. He’d smiled when she’d told him that they would keep his resume on file.

Zayn had come home that night to find Liam sitting on the floor next to the coffee table, his laptop open and a pad of paper next to it. Liam’s head had been tilted back with the newspaper over his face. When Zayn lifted the paper, Liam could see the surprise and concern in his lover’s eyes.

“What happened, _jaan_?” he’d whispered before settling himself over Liam’s lap, his head on Liam’s shoulder.

Liam just broke down in tears, and it took over an hour before he got the entire story out. It was even longer before he got to the point where he had to tell Zayn that he wouldn’t be able to contribute to the rent or anything else. He could feel the tension in Zayn’s body, even as he soothed Liam, assuring him that they would be fine.

Liam spent weeks looking for another job. Everyday, he watched Zayn leave for one of his jobs and he felt his heart sink as he saw him grow more and more tired as time went on. Liam would spend the time he was gone searching the classifieds, sending out resumes, making phone calls. Everyday, when Zayn came home, he would have to share the news that he’d managed to accomplish nothing.

At first, Zayn had been supportive, but, after a month, Liam could feel the tension growing between them. He heard it in Zayn’s voice when he would ask about jobs. He lost count of the nights they went to bed without kissing each other. In fact, it got to the point where Zayn started coming home later and later. Many nights, Liam would fall asleep on the couch waiting for him and waking up the next morning, still on the couch as Zayn slipped out the door again.

The more time Liam spent alone in the flat. The more hopeless his future became. The more convinced he was that Zayn was cheating on him. Not that Liam could blame him. Zayn deserved a partner who could support himself, support them, instead he got Liam. Liam who nobody wanted to hire. Who nobody seemed to want. Not even his best friend/boyfriend.

That night, everything had just exploded. Liam had gotten a call from a job he’d actually interviewed for twice that they’d decided to “go in another direction”. Liam had thrown his phone across the room, Zayn nearly getting hit in the head as he walked in the door.

“What happened?” he’d asked as he scooped the phone up from where it had fallen.

Liam had just pouted as Zayn walked past the couch, dropping the phone next to Liam and heading towards the bedroom. Liam watched his back as Zayn pulled his shirt over his head, Liam admiring his back and missing the feel of his skin beneath his fingers. Moments later, Zayn had reappeared, pulling a different shirt over his head and going into the kitchen.

“That mailroom job fell through,” Liam called out, finally remembering that Zayn had asked a question.

“That sucks,” Zayn told him, settling onto the couch, a plate of leftover spaghetti in his lap. He began to eat silently as he picked through the mail. Liam watched him sorting through the bills, and he knew that he was sorting them into order of urgency. Liam sighed loudly, feeling his uselessness overwhelming him again. “You’ll find something.”

“Yeah, right. I’m convinced there’s a big flashing light over my head that blinks ‘unhireable’ or ‘unwantable’ or some other un-word,” Liam said, watching as Zayn finished eating and disappeared into the kitchen again.

“Well, you’re being a bit _un_ reasonable right now,” he said, his lips curling up in a bit of a smile. All Liam could see were his tired eyes as he looked down at his phone. “I’ve got to go.”

“What?” Liam asked. “Where are you going?”

Zayn stopped. “Out.”

“Where?” Liam knew as soon as Zayn’s spine straightened that he shouldn’t have asked.

“Just out.”

“But-”

“Let it go, Liam. I’ll be back late, so just go to bed. You’re back is going to get bad sleeping on the couch waiting up for me,” Zayn said, softly.

“I wouldn’t have to wait up for you, if you were ever home,” Liam snapped.

Zayn turned to look at him. “Some of us can’t sit around the flat all our lives.”

Liam felt like he’d been smacked. He felt physical pain wrack through his body and he curled into himself. “Fuck you,” he hissed as he covered his head with his arms to hide his sobs from Zayn. He heard Zayn hesitate and then heard the loud sigh of disgust just before the door slammed, followed by the crash of shattering glass.

Now, as he threw the glass away, he felt a sharp pain in the side of his hand. He stood watching the blood flow from his finger, where a bit of glass stuck out of the side. He fumbled to remove it before making his way to the bathroom, not noticing the drops of blood that followed him.

After using tweezers to remove the bit of glass and cleaning the wound, Liam smiled at the Batman plasters that were in the medicine chest. He wrapped a couple around his finger, thankful that the bleeding had finally slowed, nearly stopped. He cleaned up the bathroom. He took a couple steps towards the kitchen, but decided the mess could wait until the next day, not like he had a job to go to.

As he entered the bedroom, he stared at the bed, trying to remember the last time he and Zayn had been in it together. When he realized he couldn’t, he tried to remember the last time they’d had sex, the last time they’d kissed. Each memory was harder to grasp than the last and made Liam feel even worse. He’d known, long before he’d met Zayn, that he wasn’t meant to be happy, but he’d been hoping, for the first time in his life, that he was wrong. He wasn’t.

He also realized that the longer he hung around there, the more he was holding Zayn back from his own happiness. He couldn’t bear to be the cause of Zayn’s unhappiness; he loved him too much for that. Liam opened the closet and reached towards the back for the duffels they kept stored there.

When he came in around three in the morning, Zayn found Liam asleep on the bed, curled between two packed duffels. Balls of crumpled paper surrounded the bed as Zayn shook Liam awake. “What’s all this?” he asked when brown eyes blinked open.

“Time’s it?” Liam muttered, rubbing at his eyes as he struggled to sit up.

“Late. What’s going on?” Zayn asked, pointing at the bags and reaching for one of the balls of paper, setting a wrapped present on the bed as he did. He opened the paper, holding it away from Liam’s grabby hands as his eyes scanned the page. “You’re...you’re leaving me?” Zayn asked, and Liam was surprised to see tears in his eyes.

“You deserve better,” Liam said, not able to keep looking at the pain that was in Zayn’s eyes.

“I don’t want better,” Zayn argued. “I want you.”

Liam couldn’t stop the snort of disbelief. “Sure, that’s why you’re never home, right? Why you can’t even stand to share a bed with me? To kiss me? To even touch me?” Zayn took a step back with each accusation, his face a mask of confusion. “I’ll leave so you can be with whoever you’ve been seeing that all of your clothes smell like a bar.”

A look of realization crossed over Zayn’s face. “I’ve been working at a bar, Liam. I picked up a third job to help with bills.”

Liam fish-mouthed a couple of times. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

Zayn shrugged. “You were already feeling so crappy about me working two jobs, I didn’t want to make you feel worse. I didn’t even consider you would think I was cheating on you! I thought you knew me better than that?” His voice was quiet, but Liam could hear the tremor of anger beneath it.

“You...you…” Liam couldn’t find the words, and Zayn grabbed the duffels off the bed and threw them towards the closet before climbing on the bed next to Liam.

“Now, as far as sharing a bed with you. You’ve been falling asleep on the couch and I can’t wake you for anything most nights, so it’s been easier to just leave you there. Who do you think has been covering you with the blanket? Bringing you a pillow?” Zayn asked, and Liam blushed as he realized he hadn’t even wondered about those things. “I miss kissing you and holding you so much, Li, but I have to be honest, you haven’t been taking the best care of yourself.”

“What do you mean?” Liam asked.

“You kind of smell, love,” Zayn said, biting his lower lip, but Liam could still see the grin. “And not in a sexy after-workout kind of way.”

“Really?” Liam asked, raising an arm and sniffing himself before making a face. “Sorry.”

“It’s alright, love. You’ve been depressed. Understandably so. I just didn't realize I was making things worse.” Zayn tried to curl closer to him, but Liam pulled away. “Cuddle with me for a minute, yeah?”

“But, I should probably shower,” Liam said, his voice hushed and his face bright pink.

“We’ll do that in a minute,” Zayn said, reaching for the present he’d set on the bed and handing it to Liam. “Open this first.”

“You shouldn’t have-” Liam started, stopping when Zayn leveled a glare at him. Liam took the gift and began unwrapping it, surprised when he saw a picture frame.

“I heard the one on the wall fall and break when I left, so I got a new one,” Zayn explained, rising from the bed. “Where’s the photo?”

“Kitchen,” Liam said, smiling down at the frame, not even noticing when Zayn left the room.

“Liam, are you hurt?” Zayn asked when he came back into the room, the photo in his hand. “There’s blood all over the kitchen counter and in the hallway.”

“Uh, yeah, I cut my finger, but it’s okay now,” he said, holding up the finger. Zayn crawled back onto the bed, taking Liam’s hand and examining the finger before pressing a kiss to the top of the plasters. “Can we put the photo in now?”

Zayn smiled and nodded as he flipped the picture frame over in Liam’s lap, pointing to the prongs that held the back in place. Liam smiled as they worked together to loosen them so that they could remove the back. Liam’s jaw dropped as Zayn pulled the back away and set it next to him on the bed.

The back of the insert had been drawn on. A large drawing of the bat signal took up the center and written around it were the words, _“Marry me, Liam?”_

Liam looked over at Zayn who was holding out a plastic bubble like you get out of candy machines. He shrugged a shoulder at Liam’s raised eyebrow. “Can’t afford a real ring right now, but thought this would do.” He popped open the bubble and a black plastic ring fell into Liam’s hand. He turned it around and started laughing when he saw it was a Batman ring.

“You want...me?” Liam asked, staring from the insert to the ring to Zayn and back to the insert again.

“Forever, if you’ll have me,” Zayn said.

“But, I’m unemployable,” Liam argued.

“Unemploy _ed_ , not unemploy _able,_ ” Zayn corrected, taking the ring and sliding it onto Liam’s pinkie finger, laughing when it wouldn’t go past the first knuckle. “I love your big hands.”

Liam’s laugh surprised them both, it had been so long since one had been felt or heard around their flat. “I’m sure you do,” he said, leaning in to kiss Zayn, frowning when his fiance, his _fiance_ , pushed him away. “What?”

“Time for that shower, love,” Zayn told him, rising from the bed and taking Liam’s hand, pulling him to stand. “And, maybe brush your teeth.”

Liam led the way to the bathroom. “Only if you join me.”

Zayn smiled as he allowed himself to be pulled along. “I’ll always join you, Leeyum. Always and forever.”

**Author's Note:**

> Please come say "hi" on [Tumblr](http://josjournal.tumblr.com/) or [Twitter](http://www.twitter.com/JolynnMG). I love meeting new people! :D


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